Dina Bengelsdorf - Week 1 -- Richard Blanco, "One Today”: We the People
Dina Bengelsdorf - Week 1 - “Pick a Poet” - Richard Blanco - “One Today”
“One Today” by Richard Blanco: We the People
As I read Richard Blanco’s name on the poet list for this week’s blog, I knew I had remembered the name from somewhere. I searched up his works online and at once, the memories of the first months of my sophomore year came flooding back. I was assigned The Prince of Los Cocuyos for my summer reading, and I remember the book’s powerful effects on myself and my tenth grade English class. Blanco’s memoir shed light on the challenges of having to pretend to be someone else around friends, family, and most importantly, oneself. To me, his story conveyed the importance of embracing myself and my heritage, under any and all circumstances. “One Today”, a poem written by Blanco and read by himself at Barack Obama’s second presidential inauguration, expresses important national messages in a broader perspective.
The inauguration poem begins with a peaceful image - one of sun, unity, and togetherness throughout the United States. While everyone leads very different lives, there is a “story told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.” We are all under “One sun… one light…” and therefore our different stories don’t break us apart, rather bring us together. In the bigger picture, we are all equals.
Similarly to The Prince of Los Cocuyos, I noticed Blanco’s appreciation for the working class. He notes that everyone contributes to society - people who “clean tables, clean ledgers, or save lives - to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did for twenty years…” I appreciated that he did not focus on the upper or lower classes, but the middle as well. I believe that this comes from his own personal experiences, as a young boy working for his family’s store. Reading this poem reminded me of many different aspects of Blanco’s book, which I enjoyed.
Finally, one of the things I appreciate most about “One Today” is the balance between the good, the bad, and everything in between. The poem addresses the unity and hard work of the country, but also the sadness, grief, and sorrow. He refers to gun violence and the deaths of young children. Especially in light of the fact that there have been hundreds of instances of gun violence after the year 2013, Blanco’s poem remains relevant today. There is still “the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain the empty desk of twenty children marked absent today, and forever.” America has not just healing to do, but revision.
What messages should an inauguration poem convey? As I believe an inauguration poem should express, the United States is a country of hope and opportunity along with sorrow and imperfections that must be recognized. Blanco does an amazing job through his poem’s conversational tone and vivid imagery that evokes emotion. His representation of the United States brings the country one step closer towards unity.
https://poets.org/poem/one-today
This is a perfect poem to be recited at a presidential inauguration because it invokes one of the greatest ideals of American society. Though we greatly differ throughout this massive land, we achieve the most as one unified people. I appreciate that Blanco highlighted hope, especially for an inauguration speech. It emphasizes that America is not defined by its tragedies, rather it can become a better place in the future if we work together.
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